May is Mental Health Awareness Month and at Doughp we are all about supporting mental health! We are excited to take part in amplifying this year’s message from the National Alliance of Mental Illness, “Together for Mental Health.”

Many of you may know, Kelsey Moreira, our founder and fearless leader of Doughp, confronted her issues with alcohol and got sober in September 2015. She battled through those issues and found a happy place in the kitchen baking.  Then after finding an egg alternative, came Doughp - edible, safe-to-eat (and mind-blowingly delicious) cookie dough!

It takes great strength and courage to fight stigmas surrounding mental health and addiction recovery, but we’re here to help you find ways to support mental health!

Celebrate Your Wins

When fighting a courageous battle with mental health, it becomes exhausting and can lead you to wondering “what is positive in my life right now?”  According to Inc., taking the time to celebrate your wins, or otherwise accomplishments, will help you have a less likely chance of burning out. 

Inc. states “Celebrating your wins not only feels great physically, but reinforces the behavior you want to show up when you face a new challenge or opportunity.”  These small celebrations, whether that be going out to have a nice dinner with close friends or family, enjoying a spoonful of Doughp (cough cough, a great way to celebrate), or simply jumping up and down for a quick celebration mentally puts you in a better place than those who don’t take the time to celebrate their accomplishments.

Here are some of our recommendations on how to celebrate your wins:

• Take a break and enjoy some self-care time!  It is vital to take care of your physical health, whether that be through taking a nap, watching your favorite show, or putting on a nice face mask to just decompress from the stress.
• Be spontaneous!  Have you been eyeing a new purse or cologne?  Treat yourself!  Been wanting to try axe-throwing but haven’t had a reason to?  Celebrate and try it!  It’s the little moments that matter!
• Celebrate with your friends and family!  There is nothing better than celebrating with your loved ones.  They can elevate your accomplishments and help encourage you to keep winning.

Encouraging Others

Taking note from that last point, what is better than taking a brief moment to encourage someone else?  Not only does it feel good to encourage someone else, but it makes them feel good too.

According to Psychology Today, “Encouragement can provide people with strength to look ahead, move forward, and reach for the next goal.”  You never know when the person next to you is struggling or having a moment where they don’t think they can get a task completed, but one kind boost of encouragement could help get them through that rough patch.

When Doughp was created, we knew we wanted to encourage our audience to feel their feelings, but also help encourage them to get past their rough patches and keep moving forward.  

Because a little bit of positivity can go a long way.

Spread Mental Health Awareness

Despite Mental Health Awareness Month wrapping up, we are proud to help support a community that brings awareness to mental health and addiction recovery all year long.  We stand with our cause #doughp4hope by donating a portion of every sale to the SHE RECOVERS Foundation, encouraging our staff to take Mental Health Days, and creating an open space like Mental Health Mondays on our social media accounts to encourage an open discussion about your mental health.

You may be wondering, “how else can I spread mental health awareness?,” well here are some tips on how you can bring awareness to mental health:

• Talk about it!  Whether it be on social media or in-person with your friends, family, or acquaintances.  Mental health shouldn’t be a scary discussion to have, if anything it should be an encouraging conversation to help you through your battles.
• Open up about your experiences!  Talking about ourselves can be difficult, but it is better to discuss what we are, or have been, going through in order to raise awareness to others that they too aren’t alone.  
• Continue to learn!  Mental health is an ever-growing topic to educate yourself.  Whether that be talking to educators about studies, listening to what others have gone through, or learning to better understand and help those around you get through the battle of harsh thoughts.  

Through it all, mental health can be difficult to navigate, but it is vital to continue talking and spreading awareness, alongside celebrating the big and little things.  And what better way to celebrate your accomplishments with mental health than to treat yourself with some Doughp?! *Wink wink nudge nudge*

How do you celebrate your accomplishments? Head over to our Instagram and comment on our most recent post to let us know!